Survival Strategies in a Modern World

Slumberland; 2009

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In one of the more obvious artist-label partnerships to spring up recently, Liechtenstein of Gothenburg, Sweden, are the latest signees to Slumberland. The resurrected indie-pop imprint is of course responsible for one of this year's breakout acts, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, among other like-minded bands. Liechtenstein represent another entry in Slumberland's current renewal of mid-to-late-1980s American and British indie, but instead of drawing influence from Black Tambourine or early My Bloody Valentine, the all-female group is recreating a very specific strain of guitar-pop also from that era. That music-- woman-fronted new wave bands like Dolly Mixture and the burgeoning twee of Heavenly Records-- is lovingly Xeroxed for a new generation on Liechtenstein's debut album, Survival Strategies In a Modern World.

It's a tricky way to get noticed as a new band. Such overt revivalism-- the group's MySpace page announces it "sounds like: 1984"-- is usually criticized for lack of ambition, which is fair. The same can (and will) be said of Liechtenstein, but their 2009 version of this style is convincing enough possibly to evade such judgments. At the very least, they've nailed the sound. With its tight, intermingling vocal harmonies and crisp instrumentation, Survival Strategies' crystalline pop apes bands whose influence lives on through just a handful of singles. About a third of the record is built upon Dolly Mixture's caffeinated, melodic new wave; the remaining two-thirds is split between Talulah Gosh's blatantly cutesy twee and the jittery post-punk of Girls at Our Best! None of it is truly theirs. But here's the thing: it all sounds pretty good.

That's crucial, since even a few sub-par numbers on an album this short (nine songs at under 23 minutes) can do serious damage. Opener "All at Once" is probably the track most primed for a breakout here and is a good example of Liechtenstein's approach. Over a dimly-lit backdrop of gloomy guitars and drum beats, the women's voices bleed into one another-- verse becoming chorus and vice-versa-- in such a way that finds extreme catchiness without becoming cloying. Similarly sticky "Postcard" and "By Staying Here (We Will Slowly Disappear)" reveal the group's more heart-on-sleeve twee side. Lovey-dovey and upbeat, "Postcard" is suburban in its charms ("Don't leave the cat on its own, don't leave the lights on when you go," they sing), while the latter takes a darkly comedic stab at the desire to leave one's hometown, that classic pop sentiment. "Chances are we will never make it far," they concede in a Morrissey/Stuart Murdoch kind of moment.

But on a record like this one, it's hard to say if just having good songs is enough. One almost needs an appreciation for the music Liechtenstein is looking to restore in order to enjoy the album. And though the band does a fine job of balancing its very poppy poppiness with darker textures, the sugary qualities so present throughout can become overwhelming. (The band almost admits as much on final track "The End", where they eventually jettison effervescent guitar pop in favor of a lovely acoustic ballad.) But because its aim is so specific and backward-looking, Survival Strategies seems destined to be the sort of record that gets lost in the shuffle, enjoyed briefly then set aside. It might serve as a real treat for devout fans of its niche or a point of entry for those unfamiliar, but in order to really stand on its own, an album needs to do more than that.